Last One Standing
by Dark Eyes-Dark Woods
Summary: Vanessa, Catty, Jimena and Serena are in mourning for Tianna, but they don't have time to grieve when a new friend is stalked by Regulators, and a run in with Catty's ex, Kyle, and his friends, the Sons of the Dark doesn't improve much. Reviews loved!
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own Daughters of the Moon, nor the Sons of the Dark. I don't own Stanton (that would be too amazing). All I own is this box of donuts. _

_Summary: Vanessa, Catty, Jimena and Serena are in grieving for Tianna, but they don't have time to mourn when a new friend is stalked by Regulators, and a run in with Catty's ex, Kyle, and his friends, the Sons of the Dark doesn't improve much. In between book 12 of Daughters and through book 4 of Sons. R & r, first fic. Flames will be used to commit arsony. _

Moon slivers fell over the sleeping girl, illuminating the dark bedroom. Boxes stood in the corner, waiting to be unpacked from the hurried move. Her favorite CD had long stopped playing, beginning again quietly, and filling the air with a dark melody. She lay still, breathing slowly, her black silk sheets twisted around her. Papers littered the desk in the corner, poetry scrawled in a hurry to depict the emotions that ran through her. Tears had dried on her cheeks and a knife blade glinted dangerous silver on the bedside table. Her wrists were covered in long red scabs, proof of her attempts to end her living nightmare. People called her a danger to herself, but the real danger was much more dangerous than her own fears and dreams. It was seeping into her room, a dark shadow creeping towards her. The shadow took form in the dark, becoming a dangerously beautiful young man. His blue eyes gleamed phosphorescent in the moonlight. He strode closer to the bed, and a cocky smirk played on his lips. "You amuse me, little one. You thought I wouldn't find you here. I will find you, wherever you go. Tu es dea, filia lunae. You are a Goddess, a Daughter of the Moon. But soon you will be a dark goddess and the Atrox waits for you." His voice was filled with dark promise. His hand caressed her sleeping face, the amulet shining brighter, as if it could push him away. Power surrounded her body, glowing in a silver shimmer, ready to attack, even though he could easily overpower it and her. He smirked at it, fell back into the shadows, and was gone.

Chapter One

Ry Dunelly walked quickly along the halls of La Brea High, her messenger bag bouncing on her shoulder. Her temples pulsed with pain from sleepless nights and her

powers were misbehaving. Someone, someone she knew had visited again last night, but who, and why? Something, something she was supposed to remember……but she had forgotten. Her long white blonde hair swayed over her shoulder and her silvery eyes seemed lost in thought. She didn't hear the calls of "Hey Ry!" and "Wassup?" or even the catcalls of the guys.

Vanessa Cleveland came up to her. "Ry? Hello? Earth to Ry!" Hurled out of her thoughts, she turned to her friend in surprise. Vanessa was one of the more popular girls at school. She was more serious and studied a lot. She looked concerned, her blue eyes glancing around for Ry's problem, as if it was something she could deal with.

"Oh, hi Vanessa. Sorry, I wasn't paying attention." She smiled, trying to brush her fear off.

"Uh-huh." Vanessa looked at her knowingly, opening her locker. "Something's bothering you. What's wrong?"

"I can't talk about it."

Vanessa gave her a look, brushing her blonde curls out of her face. "Are you coming to Serena's sleepover?"

"Oh, yeah. That's right. Sure, I'll come," she replied, feeling slightly guilty for having forgotten it.

"We're going clubbing right after, and I think my mom will let me raid her storage room," Vanessa continued, waiting for Ry to finish putting her books away.

Ry nodded. "Okay. Sounds like fun."

"Hey," Vanessa touched her cold wrist gently. "If you need to talk, we're here for you." Ry looked at her, and Vanessa mentally drew back at her cold gaze, and smile that barely reached her eyes.

The rest of the day went by in an unassuming blur and Ry had never felt more grateful to be standing on her friend's doorstep at five like a normal teenager. Her friends were fairly new, Ry having just moved to LA. Well, that wasn't entirely true. In reality, she had lived in Los Angeles her whole life. Except, there were worse things than druggies and rapists roaming the night there. Ry started, shocked at herself. She knew better than to let unguarded thoughts slip into the air like that. Shaking her head and locking away all her thoughts about that other place, she knocked on the door of the Spanish style house and Serena's brother Collin answered.

"Hey Ry," he said, his blonde hair falling into his eyes, zinc oxide sprinkled on his nose. "Serena's in the family room with Jimena and Catty."

She smiled and walked to her friends. "Thanks, Collin. Hey!" She greeted everyone. Catty nodded, her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth, her brown hair swept up into a bun as she painted star designs on Jimena's arm. Catty was an artist and her paintings were beautiful, usually resembling one of her friends in the guise of a goddess by the sea. She was fun-loving and reckless, also the only one besides Ry who didn't have a boyfriend, except Kyle, and once Chris, but she'd lost the second and broken it off with the first.

"Hey," Jimena said, smiling at Ry, her black hair spread over one shoulder. Jimena had two teardrops tattooed under her eye, reminders of por vida, and one tough attitude. She used to be a gangster but had quit the life, for reasons Ry was still unaware of. Serena leaped up and hugged Ry; her red curls bouncing and green eyes shining. Serena was stylish in a way no one else had thought of, and was extremely good at sensing things with her tarot deck. She was also almost too insightful and Ry had trouble keeping her thoughts from her.

"Come on, Vanessa should be here soon with the clothes, and then we can go. I made popcorn," she said happily, handing the bowl to Ry.

Jimena looked at her, questioningly. "Hey, Ry, is anything bothering you?"

Ry put on a fake smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. No problem." Jimena looked as if she knew Ry was lying. Thankfully, she dropped it.

"Hey guys!" Vanessa sailed into the room, bringing Collin behind her, lugging a huge trunk of stuff she had gotten from her mother's storeroom.

An hour later, Catty looked awesome in a black tube top with a pink ribbon around the top and a matching skirt. Serena had donned a red halter with a sexy red skirt slitted up the side. Vanessa was resplendent in a blue silk dress that showed off the tattoo over her heart and Jimena was in a lavender tube top and jeans. Ry wore a white lacy camisole that crisscrossed over her bare back and a white lacy skirt. Ry's face appeared unnaturally pale in the darkening night of the last quarter moon. She swirled silver glitter all over her face, into her hairline and shoulders. She stepped back and admired her work, feeling as if the warrior goddess in her had emerged. She turned back to her friends and oddly enough, they too, looked otherworldly and mystical. "Whoa, Ry." Catty exclaimed, seeing Ry's back. "Awesome ink!" Ry blushed. "Thanks." She turned around so the others could see it. A large pair of white wings was tattooed on her back. They were lovely, with light shining on the tips, ready to take flight into the moonlight.

"I wanna know who does your ink." Jimena protested, enviously. Vanessa, Catty and Serena laughed. They smiled at each other and Ry started to ask where the party was, but a dark shadow forming in the corner cut her off. She was frozen with fear as it took shape into a young man. Serena smiled broadly as the blonde boy stepped toward them and ran to kiss him.

"Hey, Stanton!" Relief soared through Ry's body like a dove, but panic still held her. He returned Serena's kiss and held her tenderly. She pulled away to smile at him. Then he saw Ry.

His handsome features twisted into shock and rage. "Ryelle! What are you doing here? How the hell did you escape Nefandus?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Like I'd tell you." She tried to glare menacingly but only came up with a pain-laced expression, feeling an extreme instinct to run, but held her ground. Her friends' faces went pale, Serena's hand on Catty's trembling shoulder.

"Nefandus?" Catty asked, her eyes wide with sadness for her friend.

Stanton's face turned to sullen annoyance. "Of course. You haven't told them. How like you, Ry, to try and cheat Fate by hiding away and lying about everything. But of course, as usual, she outsmarts you by putting you in the one place where your destiny will find you."

"How dare you," Ry's silver eyes glowed phosperescent. "How dare you come here and try to destroy everything I've built up. It's bad enough I remember nothing. But you," she snorted, glaring at him. Her small hands balled into fists at her sides, her lips set in a defiant line. "You think you're invincible because even the Daughters can't destroy you, Stanton, Prince of Night. I don't know what you're doing here, but you leave my friends alone. " A bright, blinding flash lit the room, temporarily stripping everyone of their vision. When the light faded, Ry was gone.

"Ryelle! Ryelle! Come back! They know you're here! Ryelle!" Stanton called after her. "Damn it," he swore. Vanessa, Catty and Jimena all looked at him in confusion.

"Okay, what?" Catty clarified.

"Even I'm a little puzzled," Serena admitted.

"I don't get it, at all!" Vanessa exclaimed, blue eyes big with worry. "Stanton, how do you know Ry? Why would she be in Nefandus? Is she dead? How did she do that? Does she have a power?"

"Let's start at the beginning," Stanton suggested. "It's a long story. Serena, how much do you know about Ryelle?"

"Not much, except that she's a Daughter of the Moon." Her friends stared.

"How can that be?" whispered Jimena. "There are three pieces of evidence," said Serena, ticking them off on her fingers. "One. I know the rest of you haven't seen this, since you three can't read minds, but I can. The day you introduced Ry to us, Vanessa, I took a quick peek inside her mind. I couldn't get in at all. It was as if it was one of you guys and there was something you were hiding from me. I didn't understand why there would be a barrier this strong in a seemingly normal teenage girl, so I looked at some of her memories. I saw Followers, even a brush with the Atrox itself. I assumed she was an escaped Initiate, trying to put the past behind her. Two. A couple days later, Ry dropped her pencil in the hall. When she bent over to pick it up, a moon amulet swung out from under her shirt, and a quick thought; she knows, or suspects that we're the Daughters. I now had a theory, but I wasn't exactly sure. Three. When Stanton appeared, she wasn't at all frightened, and she even knew him. Ry is a Daughter of the Moon." The other three stared at her.

"But if Ry knows, or suspects that we're Daughters too, then why didn't she say anything, or show us her powers?" Vanessa asked.

"Ry isn't just a Daughter," Stanton explained. "She's an evanesant."

"One who is hidden in mist?" Serena translated with a puzzled expression.

Stanton nodded. "Evanesant, or Fallen, are rare. There's only about one born per century. Fallen are a lot like Catty, only not the Heirs to the Secret Scroll."

Catty eyed him warily. "What do you mean?"

"Her mother was a goddess and her father was a Follower. Ry's mother was only sixteen when Ry was born, and her mother never turned to the Atrox. Evanesant are like invitus, one foot in each world. They have the powers of both Follower and goddess, therefore being stronger than both ordinary Daughters and Immortals. There is a choice for the Fallen, just as there is for you. They have the familiar option of being a guardian spirit for Selene, but they can also become Followers, or join the darker good, like Serena. Unfortunately, the emotional torment of the Fallen is even worse than that of the inviti. If a Fallen is turned to the Atrox, which is extremely possible, seeing as the Atrox is exactly half of her, before the change, the balance of power shifts in the favor of evil. You can imagine, being of the Atrox and its nemesis is pretty heart-wrenching. A Fallen has never chosen a side, because every single one ever born has committed suicide by seventeen."

"But you said Ry was in Nefandus," argued Jimena.

"That's her story," said Stanton. "And I won't tell it to you. Gist is that Ryelle is extremely stubborn and apparently refused to be turned which led to imprisonment by the Cinciti, who erased her memories in an attempt to weaken her resolve."

"We have to get to Ry before the Followers do!" Catty cried, punctuating her point with her fist.

Vanessa nodded angrily, and Serena's eyes blinked away tears. "We're not losing another friend, not so soon after Tianna."

"Let's go," Jimena nodded. "Serena, Stanton and I will head west, you two head east."

Ry had made her way into a deserted cemetery and had never felt more betrayed. Damn you, Stanton, her thoughts pushed into the air, hot tears and anger and frustration stinging the back of her eyes. Why couldn't she remember? Why were there only flashes of her mother's face, a boy's voice, a sister's touch? Where had her entire life gone? Taking a long deep breath, she stepped into the grove, and began to speak to the grave as she knelt on the green grass. "Hi, Mom. It's me, Ry. I miss you. I know you're probably watching me right now, and you'd be proud to know that I'm back in LA, just to be closer to you, even though it's more dangerous here. I met all the other Daughters. They're really nice. I feel bad for lying to them, but now that Stanton's there, he probably explained the whole sad story to them anyway. I wish I had Catty's power, to go back in time and see you whenever I wanted. You'd know what to do." She walked away from the small grave by the stream, under the weeping willow tree. She finally decided to climb a relic of La Morena and hope that the Followers wouldn't find her there. She leaned back against the statue and watched the clouds cover the moon.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Daughters of the Moon, nor the Sons of the Dark. I don't own Stanton (that would be too amazing). All I own is that cardboard box in your backyard.

Summary: Vanessa, Catty, Jimena and Serena are in grieving for Tianna, but they don't have time to mourn when a new friend is stalked by Regulators, and a run in with Catty's ex, Kyle, and his friends, the Sons of the Dark doesn't improve much. In between book 12 of Daughters and through book 4 of Sons. R & r, first fic. Flames will be used to commit arson.

The boy walked quickly towards the cemetery, fear of being discovered scraping his throat; he couldn't scream even if he wanted to. He passed a hand through his chin-length blonde hair, brown eyes dark with worry. He was damning himself for being 'such a good guy.' For once, he should have stayed and drunk with the band. For once! He could have even gone home, Kyle and Berto were probably over their fight by now. Damn his power. If he had a power like Samuel's totem animals, then, maybe he wouldn't be in this predicament. What could he do? Just cast spells that never stayed, with a bunch of stupid rune stones. Salvation! He finally spotted the cemetery, just ahead, and he could hear the gaining speed of the Regulators behind him, too. He could, of course, just change into shadow, but his pursuers weren't absolutely sure he was the one they were after. If he changed, that would just be a sure fire clue. Instead, he kept up the brisk pace until he had closed the cemetery gates behind him. He heard their muttered curses, and was gratified; they could not reach him there, not like this. He began walking towards the center of the cemetery, figuring the farther in he was the better.

Ry wasn't alone now, she knew that much. She listened hard. Yes, there was a sound of Followers at the cemetery gates. Followers, by the noise; but tall, sluggish and slow. She jumped down from her seat on the statue and gracefully hid behind it. Listening for a few moments, their whispered speech finally became silent, and she judged it would be safe to come out again. She watched over her shoulder as she went around the statue, but unfortunately, the person who crashed into her was looking behind too.

"Whoa!" The person she collided fell on his back to the ground and she fell on top of him. She looked at the person beneath her. Curious, warm brown eyes stared up into hers, and she blushed, because this blonde haired guy was a ten on a scale of one to five.

She rolled off him, blushing like crazy. "Hi."

The guy sat up, shaking his head as if to clear it. "Hey," he answered. "That was some fall. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. You took the worst of it, though. Bruises, broken bones?"

He shook his head. "I'm good. I'm Omer, by the way. But everyone calls me Obie."

Ry blushed again, chiding herself for being so stupid. "Ryelle. Call me Ry." He smiled at her, and her heart turned into sticky molasses. What was happening? She had never felt this way before. She could go inside his mind, but that would be invading, and he was just a normal guy.

"What are you doing here on a Saturday night, Ry? Most girls I know would be partying. Or are you an angel and fell out of the sky?"

She laughed. "I could ask you the same question. What are you doing here, Obie?"

His eyes lit up. "I asked you first."

Her heartbeat quickened. Was he flirting with her? "All right, fine. I was hanging out with my friends and someone I really don't like showed up. So I bailed." She shrugged, as if fleeing to a graveyard was what everyone would do. She looked at him pointedly.

"Okay, okay. I live with three of my friends, and two of them got into a fight, again. I was tired of listening so I left."

"Sounds like we have the same kind of friends," she said, leaning against the statue. Obie chuckled, but then his eyes went round as if he had seen someone. Ry felt a burning sensation from her moon amulet, still hidden beneath her top. Followers.

"Obie?" Ry asked, frightened. "What is it?"

"Ssh!" he jerked her to the ground, and put his hand over her mouth. "Be still. Be very, very quiet." She looked at him, her large eyes questioning. "There's someone out there," he explained, pulling her behind the statue. "They're after me, but they'll catch you too, if you don't escape. Some guys I pissed off at school. When I say now, run, run and don't look back."

"I don't think these are school kids." She said, realizing that Obie was just bait, designed to draw her from her hiding place.

"I'll be fine, just run." Footsteps, soft and silky on the summer grass grew louder.

Voices, serpentine and ominous spilt the heavy air. "I tell you, he's not here, Magnus. We've searched this space before. And he would have escaped by now anyway."

"Be quiet, you fool," a new voice spat. "I know he's here and if you'll just shut up, we'll find him." The voices stopped and the sound of feet walking away faded to nothing.

Him? So they are looking for Obie. "I think they're gone," Ry whispered aloud.

"Or not," a voice said from above her. She looked up, terrified. She saw a man aged perhaps twenty-five, normal enough, except for the fact that every hair was in place, clothes neatly pressed and every wrinkle smooth. He was perfect. Too perfect, and the way he was smiling at her made her blood run cold.

"Now!" shouted Obie from beside her. "Run, Ry! Run!" She pushed the man away and ran for the gates, her heart beating faster and faster. She might have gotten away, if she hadn't tripped over a tree root. She fell to the ground loudly, and someone yanked her up by the wrist. It was the first voice, and the owner had brown hair and menacing green eyes. The air around them crackled with static electricity. What kind of Follower was this? She closed her eyes and struggled, knowing better than to look in a Follower's eyes.

"Look at me," he commanded, as much in her mind as in the air. The force of the thought was extremely painful, more powerful than any of the Immortals she had faced. She had no choice but to stare into the black depths of his eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Daughters, or the Sons. pouts Just a chemistry book. -- Please R &R, you all make my day….:-)**

**Ivebeen: Right backatcha! I love your story! And…I'm sorry to say that I cannot tell you Ry's powers…because you'll just find out yourself, possibly in this very chapter, and if not this one, the next:-D**

**Goddess from Your Nightmares: Your wish is my command! **

Chapter 4

"All right," Obie said to the second Follower, the Regulator Magnus, looking for an opportunity to grab Ry and get out of there. "I'll go with you quietly, just don't hurt her."

Magnus' yellow eyes gleamed in surprise. "Always the hero, I suppose. What's in store for her is much less than what's going to happen to you. You're going straight back to your master, slave, but first I think the Cinciti wanted the pleasure of torturing you to find out about what you know. Then it's back to Nefandus, and for her? I wager that the Inner Circle will be plenty hungry after dealing with you, and then she'll be sold off like the rest of you worthless servi." Without warning, he sent a blaze of power at Obie, temporarily paralyzing him.

In Ry's eyes, everything had disappeared, the Follower, the graveyard, Obie, and the Follower attacking him. She was in a place she hadn't been in for a long time. It was empty, and cold, but strangely peaceful. She felt a dark presence, a black cloud in the center of darkness, watching her, and as she watched it, it reached out and stroked her hair with a smoky, finger-like gentleness. It waited at the threshold of her mind, requesting entrance, like a polite guest. She didn't shrink away, her worst fault being curiosity. Was this familiar? She couldn't remember….

"Ry!" cried Vanessa in horror as she saw her friend sprawled out over the ground, with a leering Regulator standing over her. The Daughters burst into the cemetery, plus an angry looking Stanton.

"Hey, that guy looks familiar," Catty said, squinting at Obie.

"WATCH OUT!" yelled Jimena, tackling Catty to the ground as one of the Regulators shot an energy blast right through where her head had been.

"Hey!" Serena challenged the Regulators, fire in her eyes. "If you wanna pick on my friends, you gotta get through me first!"

The smaller one groaned. "I didn't sign up to be killed tonight," he whined to the bigger one, who nodded.

"Until we meet again, Renegade," he sneered at Obie, who had run to Ryelle's side the moment she fell. Serena fired two warning shots with her mind, and they dissolved into black specters, taking off into the night.

Obie knelt to Ry's side and picked her up, as easily if she were a doll.

"Thanks for helping our friend—'' Vanessa came up to take her from him, but he cut her off, his gaze going from Vanessa to Jimena to Serena to Catty and finally glaring at Stanton.

"I didn't know the Daughters of the Moon had turned traitor, but I know a powerful Follower when I see one." His eyes flickered phosphorescent in the moonlight.

"Renegade," said Stanton thoughtfully. Obie snarled at him and turned into shadow, taking Ryelle with him.

/line/

"Ryelle!" cried Vanessa, horrified. "That Follower kidnapped her! We have to save her!"

"Calm down," Serena told her reassuringly.

"Calm down? Not until we bust a cap in this kid for messing with our friend!" said Jimena threateningly, punching her fist into her palm.

"He's not a Follower," Stanton interrupted her. "He's a Renegade. An escaped slave from Nefandus. Usually your ally, except he obviously thought you had turned, because of me. "

Catty turned wide eyes on the Prince of Night. "A Renegade? Like Kyle?" Her heart beat a little faster, thinking of the boy whose love she had let go when she had learned her father's true identity.

Stanton nodded. "Exactly like Kyle."

"Not only he is exactly like Kyle…" Serena added carefully, watching Catty's face. "He lives with Kyle. The memory of his home matches yours of Kyle's."

The Heir's face fell. "Oh." She bit her lip, eyes flashing in determination. "It doesn't matter. We have to get Ry back."

Serena turned to Stanton. "And you can't come with us," she said quietly. "We don't want to scare them." Stanton nodded, and swept her into a passionate embrace, kissing her gently. Jimena and Catty exchanged a glance—they had never trusted Stanton. Vanessa, however, looked pleased, enjoying the loving display.

Serena broke the kiss and Stanton wordlessly dematerialized and soared away, a dark shadow against the star-studded sky. "Alright, Catty, do you remember where Kyle lives?"

Catty nodded sullenly. "Follow me."

/line/

Obie slipped into the open window of his bedroom, a silent dark shade. He materialized again, cradling the unconscious Ryelle's soft body in his arms. He placed her gently on his bed, tracing over her beautiful face lightly with his fingers. What was she? She wasn't a Renegade, and she didn't seem anything like Kyle's description of the Daughters, except, as he had seen with his own eyes tonight, she was as beautiful as them. Kyle…Gods, he would have Obie's head for this.

"Bringing a strange girl back into our home? Are you crazy? What if this is a trap, and she's a bounty hunter? Or a Regulator? We're supposed to be looking for the Black Diamond, we don't have time to deal with the goddesses!"

He grimaced; he could hear his uptight roommate already. Berto wouldn't care, except he might be interested and want to help Obie solve this mystery. Samuel would be all for it, if he could pull his fishlips away from his girlfriend Maddie's long enough to notice.

"Who's the girl?" Berto's voice asked, amused, from the doorway. "I thought you weren't into the whole taking girls home thing."

Heat flamed in Obie's cheeks. "It isn't like that."

Berto cocked his head and grinned. "Sure it isn't. You're still dressed, aren't you?" The grin slid off his face. "You didn't kiss her, did you?" The curse of the _servi _dictated that no Renegade could ever kiss a mortal, or anyone on the side of good, lest their hope and spirit be stolen forever.

Obie shook his head and walked quickly out of his room, shutting the door and pulling Berto out onto the balcony. "Let me explain…"

"Damn," Berto said, pulling out a cigarette after Obie had finished. "You're in deep. Why didn't you leave her with the other Daughters? If they've turned, so has she. How do you know you haven't brought a _lecta _into our home?"

Obie shook his head. "I just know. She's not evil."

Berto sighed, putting out his lighter. "Would you bet our lives on that?"

Obie groaned, looking out over the city. "I just can't believe someone that beautiful could be bad."


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry it took me so long to update, but it's extra long. I'll reply to the reviews in the next chapter cuz I wanna get this out fast. **

**Disclaimer: We've been over this. **

Chapter 5

Ry dreamed as she slept unknowingly in Obie's bed. A black haired woman was standing on a sandy beach, at the very edge, where the surf lapped at her toes. Her white gown swirled in the ocean breeze, and her lovely face as she turned to look at Ry was of goddess-ly perfection. Raising a white hand, she beckoned Ryelle to join her, calling her name softly.

"Ryelle," she said in a voice like the clang of musical chimes. "Do you know who I am?"

"A goddess," Ry answered, a little shame-faced. "I feel like I should know more."

The woman sighed sadly. "You shall, in time, your memories will return to you."

Ry looked at her, confusion in her silvery eyes. "Am I a goddess, too?"

The woman smiled gently, her lips curved in a crescent. "That's for you to decide. I can only do my best to guide you. For example, look out to sea." Ry did as she was told, gazing over the peaceful ocean, the light sea breeze whipping at her hair as moonlight glimmered on the waves.

"See the light? Let it flow through you, embrace it thoroughly." Ry closed her eyes and bit her lip, feeling the pure light pulse in her veins. The sensation was painful, her Follower blood wanted the light gone. She tensed up, balling her hands up into fists. As she did, the wind picked up and began to howl fiercely at them. Ry's eyes shot open.

"Nothing to worry about," the woman assured her. "The wind is in the soul of every woman. It is representative of the power inside you."

The wind began to scream, twisting and turning the sand into tiny tornados. Ry covered her ears in pain and squeezed her eyes together tightly, shaking with anguished sobs.

"No! Control yourself, Ryelle! Control the wind!" The woman screamed over the storm, the sea beginning to twist and ten feet waves crashed on the shore around them.

"I can't!" Ryelle yelled back, fear filling her lungs and making it hard to breathe.

The woman looked at her sadly and a wave crashed down on top of her. Ryelle screamed, but when it receded, she was gone.

Loud, rude knocking roused Kyle from his nap on the living room couch. "Ow!" he yelled as he fell off the couch. He opened his sleepy eyes, and pulled at his paint-stained t-shirt. "What a way to wake up," he growled, annoyed. The knocking began again.

"Coming, coming!" he called. "Jesus." He ran a hand through his brown locks, glaring at the door, glancing at his half finished night scape, of a city of Nefandus. It was alright, you couldn't tell what it was yet. He pulled the door open, ready to glare at whoever had woken him. Instead, his jaw dropped. "C-Catty?"

Catty blushed. He was covered in paint stains and he still looked amazing. "This isn't a social call, Kyle," she said in what she hoped was a brisk tone. "Where's Ry?"

Kyle blinked stupidly at her, barely able to comprehend the fact that she was here, right in front of him, let alone answer a question. "Ry?"

"Our friend," Vanessa ventured helpfully, stepping out from behind Catty.

Jimena's tone was less friendly as she stepped aggressively into the apartment. "Oy, _chico, _you better tell us where your friend took Ryelle."

Kyle shook his head. "Look, Catty, not that I'm not happy to see you, but I have no idea what you and your friends are talking about."

Jimena snorted. "Please. Don't play stupid, _loco. _Your buddy kidnapped our friend, and if he's done anything to her, then he's going to get it, and so are you."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kyle repeated, getting irritated.

"He doesn't," Serena cut in.

"Can you hear Ryelle?" asked Vanessa anxiously. Serena shook her head, her lips set in a tense line.

Jimena stepped back, glaring still.

"Let's just all calm down," Kyle said, as if that was the last thing he wanted to do. "and sort this out. Obie! Berto! Samuel!"

A shadow stole into the room, and quickly materalized into a good-looking brown haired, well built boy. He folded his muscled arms over his chest, seeming to miss the four goddesses. "This better be good, Kyle, I was just on my way to pick up Maddie."

Kyle glared at him. "We have more important things to worry about than how much time you spend with your conniving girlfriend."

"Maddie is not conniving!" the brown haired boy replied hotly. Then he saw the goddesses and gasped. "The Daughters of the Moon?"

"No, we're Santa's helpers," Jimena sneered at him.

"Enough!" broke in Vanessa before Samuel could reply. "Tell us where Ryelle is!"

"Who?" Samuel asked, confused.

Catty sighed, massaging her temples. "This isn't getting us anywhere." She turned to her friends, "They don't even know her. And the more time we waste, the less chance we have of saving her." The others nodded, and they turned to leave.

"Wait," Kyle said, thinking fast. _I lost you once, Catty, I'm not letting you walk away from me again. _"Berto and Obie aren't home, maybe it was one of them you saw with your friend.

"Kidnapping our friend," Jimena glowered at him.

"Sure," Kyle said, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, let's just wait for them. OBIE! BERTO!"

A second shadow whipped through the window to form a dark haired Native-Central American boy in a leather jacket, holding a cigarette. "What?" His eyes roved over the girls, but he said nothing.

"These girls," Kyle said, sighing, "seem to think that one of us kidnapped their friend. Do you know anything about this, Berto?"

"Really." Berto cocked an eyebrow, looking curiously at the goddesses. "And why do they think that?"

Kyle looked at his roommate, horrified. "You knew."

Berto shrugged modestly.

"Where's Obie?"

"Don't believe them, Kyle!" Obie strode into the room from his bedroom, locking the door behind him. "I saw them with a powerful Follower, they've turned traitor!"

"Did not!" Vanessa yelled indignantly.

Catty shook her head. "No, you don't understand—''

"Where's Ryelle?" challenged Jimena.

Serena sent a warning through all of their minds to quiet the entire room. They all flinched and she smiled apologetically.

"We haven't turned, Stanton is my boyfriend, and for love of me he would never turn you in. You frightened us when you took off with Ryelle—we didn't know what you were," she said to Obie.

He glared at her. "Why do you expect me to believe you?"

"Because it's the truth," Jimena half-shouted.

"They're telling the truth, Obie," Kyle said on their behalf. "Catty would never turn to the Atrox."

"You only think that because you're blinded by your love for her!" Obie shot at him, and Kyle turned tomato red.

"Is that true?" Catty looked at him, shellshocked.

"Well, no, I mean yes, that is—'' he stuttered helplessly.

Catty blushed and turned away from him so he wouldn't see the look in her eyes. "It's over, Kyle. Why can't you just accept that?"


	6. NOTE

Author's Note

gasps OhmyGod I am so sorry! I didn't mean to take this long, but my dad had to fix my computer, and school caught up with me….anyway, the next chapter will be out soon, I believe.

Thanks so much to those of you that review, it really keeps me going. So give yourselves a cookie or a donut. 

Thanks, I'll be out with something new soon, I promise!


	7. Chapter 6

** Disclaimer: I don't own the Sons of the Dark, or the Daughters of the Moon. Or any other character from Lynne Ewing's fantastic imagination. The bad poetry, I'm sorry to say, is the only thing that is mine.**

** GOMEN FOR TAKING SO LONG**

** School hates me….. tear But**** I recieved so many lovely reviews I had to update! See, I told you guys, reviews inspire me! -**

** This one will be kind of short, okay really short. But I wanted to leave it on a cliffhanger, so here goes….**

** Chapter 6 **

p Ryelle woke to the sound of badly hushed arguing in the room outside. Opening her eyes, she could see only faint outlines of the bed beneath her in the dark room. Where was she? What happened? "Ohh…" she put a hand to her head, nauseous from the sudden movement of sitting up. Gingerly, she reached behind her, groping for a light switch along the wall. _Click. _The room was illuminated, but the situation was not. If anything, Ry was more in the dark than ever. She did not recognize the bedroom she found herself in. Its walls were a plain off white, decorated with various posters of musical artists and rock bands. The twin bed in which she now lay had a blue coverlet and dark sheets. There was a student's desk in the corner, a bookbag with textbooks spilling out on the floor. She wrinkled her nose. There were boys clothes all over the floor and paper all over the desk, notebook paper with messy scrawls all over it. Ry carefully pulled herself up and picked up a piece of paper that had fallen.

"You're so far away

And it kills me to say

I might never see you again

And just when I think I've forgotten

I look into the darkness

And the face I see is yours"

br Ryelle read aloud in a whisper. Eyes widening, heart racing, she began to paw through all the paper, reading aloud scraps of poems…lyrics, whatever they were, they were beautiful.

"Ouch!" she tripped over a textbook. Curious, she bent down to see whose room she was in, whose heart (she realized rather shame-facedly) she was invading. It was a Turney High book, but the name slot on the inside cover was blank. She bit her lip. Why couldn't she remember? A note fell out of the book as she turned over, folded over twice with the name "Obie" hastily written. Obie! The memories of the graveyard and the Regulators came flooding back. She shivered, remembering the cold darkness of the Atrox, and how she had lost consciousness. She looked down in dismay at her white skirt, which was ripped, and her revealing white top had grass stains on it. She reached for a pair of jeans hanging on the back of a chair, when--

"I can't, because I love you!" a male voice shouted from behind the closed door." I do, Catty, I love you!"

"I can't believe you, Kyle!" Catty yelled loudly, still not looking at him. "You always have to make everything about you! Well, newsflash: I don't care! I'm just here because your friend"—she pointed a dramatic finger at Obie—"kidnapped my friend!"

Ryelle froze. Catty?

Obie groaned. "I'm telling you, I didn't kidnap her! I was protecting her from you!"

"She's our friend," Vanessa said stubbornly, folding her hands over her chest. "We wouldn't let anything hurt her."

Oh no, Ry thought, panicked. They were all here. She had to get out, she couldn't let them find her, they would just get hurt. Quickly, she ran to the window and pulled it open.

"Let's stop arguing," broke in Serena. "She's safe, we're all on the same side, we really have nothing to be fighting over."

"She's right," Samuel appealed to his friends. Obie snorted, but nodded.

"Let's just get her and get out of here," Jimena rolled her eyes, and Vanessa and Serena followed her as Obie unlocked his bedroom door.

"Catty…." Kyle said with a last note of pleading in his voice. "Please don't do this Catty. Please don't walk away from me again!"

She froze, and turned to look at him, her face expressionless. And then she turned away.

"She's gone!" exclaimed Obie, forgetting to be embaressed of his trashed room. Vanessa gasped, Jimena cursed and Serena's lips clenched tightly together. The window curtains were swaying lightly in the breeze, and the moonlight spilled in over his floor, illuminating the books, clothes, bed and desk. Everything except Ryelle.

"Where could she have gone?" asked Catty.

"You may not know," said a voice from the corner. "But I do."


End file.
